Rumor: Dijit And Miso Are Close To Merging, As Social TV Consolidation Continues

Rumor Friday-Before-A-Holiday-Weekend®? Today, TechCrunch received a tip that San Francisco-based social TV startups Dijit and Miso could be close to combining forces in what would be the latest round of consolidation in that segment.

The deal would likely involve NextGuide app maker Dijit acquiring patents, IP and other assets from Miso in exchange for some amount of cash or equity in the combined entity, we’ve heard. It’s not clear how many of Miso’s employees would join Dijit, or how the two would combine product or technology that they’ve been working on independently. That said, while there are still a number of details to work out, the deal could be done as soon as next week.

The merger would combine two startups who have both spent the last few years pivoting while searching for market traction. Miso, launched in 2010, came to market as a TV check-in app along the lines of GetGlue and others. But it eventually transformed itself — a couple of times — most recently launching a product called “Quips,” which is aimed at letting people share moments from their favorite TV shows. Along the way, it’s raised about $6 million from investors that include Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures and Hearst Interactive Media.

Dijit, too, had done the social check-in thing and has also pivoted a couple of times. At one point it positioned itself as a universal remote control, connecting to multiple devices through the Griffin Beacon accessory. More recently, however, the company has been working on a TV discovery app called NextGuide, which it hopes to connect directly to set-top boxes from your existing cable provider. Dijit CEO Jeremy Toeman has told me in the past that the startup had raised some seed capital last year, but the company hasn’t disclosed exactly how much.